Bottle-closure.



Patented Dec. I8,' |900.

(El Mme n Foz/J W. H. LCKHART G; H. KLEIN.

BOTTLE CLOSURE.

(Application med May 6, 1900.)

THE Ncnms Evans co.. Pnoommo., wAsnmGmN. u. c.

(No Model.)

Nrrnn 'rares- ATENT iii-ICEo WILLIAM H. LOOKHART AND GEORGE H. KLEIN, OF FOWLER, COLORADO.

BOTTLiE-CLOSU RE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,053, dated December 18, 1900.

Application tiled May 5, 1900. Serial No. 15,624. KNO mdel.)

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known thatwe,WILLIAM H.LOOKHART and GEORGE I-I. KLEIN, citizens of the United States, residing at Fowler, in the county of Otero and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Closures; and We do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has relation to means for quickly detectingspurious contents of a bottle or like package or making known the fact when the same has been tampered with, thereby apprising a prospective purchaser of a particular brand of goods that the package has been broken and the chances are that an inferior article is being olfered.

For a full description of the invention and the merits thereof,and also to acquire a knowledge of/ the details of construction of the means for effecting the result, reference is to be had to the following description and drawings hereto attached.

While the essential and characteristic features of the invention are necessarily susceptible of modication, still the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a vertical section of the closure. Fig. 2 is a section of a bottle, showing the closure in position. Fig. 3 isa perspective view of the sleeve. Fig. is a perspective view of the button or index.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

The closure consists of a sleeve l, of a size to flt snugly within the neck or opening of the bottle, vessel, or other package to which the invention is to be applied, a cork 2 to seal the sleeve by being forced into the opening or bore thereof, and a button or index 3, detachably fitted to the inner end of the cork and of a size to overlap the inner end of the sleeve. The button or index 3 may be of any material not affected by the liquid contents of the bottle and is adapted to be attached to the cork 2 by means of the pin or spur 4, secured thereto by having its head embedded therein.

VThis mode of attachment of the pin 4 to the index prevents contamination of the contents of the bottle by contact thereof with any portion of the pin, which would be the result if the head were exposed, as would be the case if the pin passed entirely through the button. The pin is made tapering, so as to permit the button to become readily detached upon extracting the cork 2. When the index is in position, it ts tight against the lower end of the cork 2 and the sleeve l and prevents the contents of the bottle from coming in contact with the pin.

The sleeve l is preferably formed of glass or frangible material and is of a size to snugly it within the neck 5 or opening of the bottle 6 or other vessel or package. This sleeve when positioned is made fast by a non-soluble cement or other convenient means, so as to prevent the possible removal thereof from the bottle or. package. In the preferable form of construction the sleeve is externally threaded, as shown at 7, andthe interior of the neck or opening is correspondingly threaded to receive the sleeve which is screwed therein. In order to admit of the sleeve being screwed into the neck or opening, it is provided With knobs or projections 8 at its outer end for engagement therewith of the fingers or the parts of a spanner when the latter is resorted to for screwing the sleeve home. Prior to inserting the sleeve within the neck or opening it is coated externally with a cementing substance, which will set and prevent the removal of the sleeve. After the sleeve has been screwed home the knobs or projections 8 are removed either by breaking them oif or grinding or in any manner found most convenient. By removing the knobs the difficulty of displacing the sleeve is greatly added to, as will be readily comprehended.

The cork 2 is fitted within the sleeve and the button or index 3 applied theretoprior to fitting the sleeve or closure to the bottle, vessel, or package to be sealed. After the bottle or package has been filled the closure is placed in position and cemented and the knobs 8 removed. When it is required to gain access to the contents of the bottle or package, the cork 2 is extracted in the usual manner, and this operation results in detaching the button or index, which drops within the bottle or package and indicates that the seal of the bottle, package, or vessel has been broken, and should the same be offered for sale with the button or index detached the prospective purchaser may know at once that the bottle has been tampered with and is led to regard the package With suspicion. Hence a check is placed upon the nefarious practice of offering for sale a spurious article in place of the genuine.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed as new is- In combination with a bottle having its neck interiorly threaded, an exteriorly-threaded sleeve of frangible material secured within the neck of the bottle by a cement and threaded joint, said sleeve having oppositely-dis- WILLIAM 1I. LOCKHAR'I. [L. S.] GEORGE 1I. KLEIN. [L. s]

Vitnesses:

CHARLES A. TRENT, S. W. STARR. 

